1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets discharged from an automatic medicine packaging machine into individual doses to automatically load the cut medicine packets on a loading device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an automatic medicine packaging machine indicates an apparatus for automatically packaging medicines into individual doses.
The structure and operation of a conventional automatic medicine packaging machine will be described with reference to FIG. 24 schematically depicting the conventional automatic medicine packaging machinepackager.
As shown in FIG. 24, the conventional automatic medicine packaging machine includes a plurality of tablet cassettes 2 installed on a shelf disposed at the upper side of a main body 1, a hopper 3 installed at the lower side of the tablet cassettes 2, a pair of packaging sheet rolls disposed at the lower lateral sides of the hopper 3, a printer 5 installed at the lower side of one of the packaging rolls 4 to print information such as the patient name, how to take the medicine, or the like, a pair of driving rollers installed below the hopper 3, a sealer 7 disposed between the hopper 3 and the driving rollers 6 to weld the packaging sheets to form a series of medicine packets R, and a punch 8 disposed below the sealer 7 to form holes in the series of medicine packets R.
In such the conventional automatic medicine packaging apparatus, tablets, dropped into the hopper 3 from the tablet cassettes 2, are inserted between a pair of packaging sheets drawn from the packaging rolls 4 by the driving rollers 6, and the sealer 7 welds the packaging sheets traveling downward to finish a series of medicine packets R, then the series of medicine packets is discharged out through the lateral side of the main body 1.
The discharged series of medicine packets R has a series of medicine packets having a plurality of holes punched by the punch 8, and is separated into individual packets by a worker to store bundles of medicine packets on a pin.
In addition, operations of various devices installed in the main body 1 are controlled by a controller 1a. 
FIGS. 25 and 26 are photographs of the upper and lower sides of a series of medicine packets.
As shown in the photographs, in a series of medicine packets discharged to a side of the conventional automatic medicine packaging machine, a plurality of medicine packets is formed in series by welding a transparent packaging sheet and an opaque packaging sheet so that tablets accommodated in the medicine packets can be seen through the transparent packaging sheets forming the upper sides of the medicine packets.
On the lower sides of the medicine packets, barcodes are printed. The barcodes allow a user to know information about the tablets accommodated in the medicine packets through an external device such as a barcode reader.
There are two types of the medicine packets, namely, one has an inserting hole formed in the upper side by a punch, and the other has no the insert hole.
However, since the series of medicine packets R, discharged from the conventional automatic medicine packaging apparatus is cut by a worker to make a bundle of medicine packets using a pin in order to easily store the bundle of medicine packets, a great deal of manpower and time for cutting and storing the series of medicine packets R are required.
Moreover, when there is a medicine packet in the series of medicine packets in which the barcode is misprinted in the upper sides thereof or which contains a damaged tablet, it is hard for a worker to remove the defective medicine packet, and a great deal of manpower and time for selecting and removing the defective medicine packet are required.